What would I lose out on getting Sandy Bridge over Ivy Bridge

[Sandraudiga]

I am chomping at the bit so to speak on starting my first build, I have every part except the CPU sitting in front of me. The plan was to wait for the new Ivy Bridge i5, but with all the leaked information on overclocking I am considering just buying an i5 2500k and finishing my build.

The question is, what do I lose out on by going this route? I wasn't going to overclock at first, but after reading many topics here and other places online it doesn't seem extremely difficult to do a small to medium overclock. I was thinking a 4.0 or a 4.5 GHz overclock using a CM Hyper 212 Evo.

Given that the system will only be used for gaming purposes, say Guild Wars 2, Diablo 3, Battlefield 3, and maybe Wow, would it be better to get the i5 2500k and overclock it, compared to waiting a little bit longer for Ivy Bridge and have a smaller (or no) overclock? Are there worthwhile features relevant to my purposes that Ivy Bridge provides over Sandy Bridge that will compensate for a likely decrease in overclocking?

The release date, or some sort of information seems to be due in a few hours or so, but given that there has been some information out there, in your opinion would I better off just getting the i5 and going for a good overclock?

[Deleted]

The IB chips have K editions too for overclocking. Tho they will have brand new tech prices for only a 5-10% increase in power, Its only a die shrink and not a new core type mostly...

[Sandraudiga]

Yeah, I realize you can overclock the Ivy Bridge as well, but all the current information has them running very hot at lower clocks. This has me worried given my ambient temperature is around 30-35 Celsius in winter and can reach low to mid 40s in summer.

If I can only safely take an Ivy Bridge to 3.7-4.0, but can safely take a Sandy Bridge to 4.5 to 4.8, its a fairly clear winner for Sandy Bridge in my case assuming that there aren't features that Ivy Bridge provides that Sandy Bridge does not.

Here is the rest of the system:

Case: Thermaltake level 10 GT
Mobo: ASRock z77 extreme 4
Ram: 8 gigs of corsair vengeance
GPU: Twin Frozr GTX 680
SSD: 256 Gig Crucial m4
HDD: 2 TB Seagate Barracuda
CPU Cooler: CM Hyper 212 Evo
Monitor: LG E2351VR 23in LED Widescreen Monitor
PSU: Corsair HX750W

[hapylol]

Sand,

You wont lose anything that is not needed. The SB processors are the best gaming CPU's to date. The i5-2500k will play all those games you listed with no issues.

I would rather stick with the 2500k knowing how easy it OC's and know it can handle everything, then to risk it on new parts we don't know much about.

EDIT: That build you posted will run everything MAX for years. Just go with it and don't look back

[Sandraudiga]

Thanks, i5 2500k it will be, and I can get my hands into the build /evil laugh

[vesseblah]

Z68 vs Z77 motherboard:

Z77 has Native USB3 and SATA3 ports without any extra chips

SB vs IB processor on Z68 board:

No difference

SB vs IB on Z77 board:

IB has support for 2800MHz RAM (SB 2133MHz) and PCI-Express 3.0 x16 (SB PCIe2.1)

[Subbversion]

I am in the same position as OP. Do you think I should just nab a z77 mobo and the i7 2700k and call it a day? I was going to wait for the Ivybridge i7 3770k but I think it's just overkill.

[Deleted]

I've done the exact same thing, got a 2600k for £200 with a z77 board, shortly after ordering and the benchmarks came out, the 2600k prices went back up to their usual 240 mark muahahah

[freebaser]

Lets just say I don't expect anyone to say "Man, I wish I would have waited for Ivy Bridge."

[Sartharias]

I was waiting for the new IBs to come out, but ended up just grabbing an i5-2500k, hell, can always just change it out later in the year if the performance is really worth the upgrade and they become overclock friendly

[Deleted]

If you're buying new an IvyBridge @4.5-4.6GHz @1.1v sounds nice enough for running 24/7. You might not be beating any overclock records I don't think those numbers are bad.

[Subbversion]

We can see that in WoW on medium settings, you're still getting over 30FPS with just on-board graphics with the 3770k - but not much more than you were with the 2770k.

Compare the size of the GPU in each chip:

Ivybridge:


Sandybridge:


Source, more info: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...770k,3181.html

I would say for somebody like me who isn't looking to dump an expensive GFX card immediately, waiting till Ivy Bridge is the little advantage I might jump on. It's built for DX11 which is a plus. I only play WoW, Skyrim, Diablo3, and some older RTS games. So this onboard is just what I need. When I'm ready to get back into serious gaming I can just tag on a graphics card. Made my decision

[Meleti]

Most reviews have IB at around a 4-6% performance gain over SB. They also run hotter. I'd go for the SB because it overclocks better on air and requires less expensive cooling.

If you're buying new an IvyBridge @4.5-4.6GHz @1.1v sounds nice enough for running 24/7. You might not be beating any overclock records I don't think those numbers are bad.

Pretty sure you will need more voltage.

[Deleted]

Engineering samples like the one you linked usually require a little more voltage.

As for the 1.1v ... undervolting-and-overclocking-on-ivy-bridge

[m4xc4v413r4]

It's not as simple as most of you are putting it.... they run hotter but the thing is that they CAN run hotter. Tjunction Max on SB is about 73ºC, on IB it's 105.
And another thing, you're comparing apples and oranges, 4.0GHz on SB is not the same as 4.0GHz on IB, 4.6GHz on IB is about the same performance of 5.0GHz on SB.

You can't do direct comparisons like that on chips that are made in completely different ways.

Anyway... Intel could, if they wanted, get the temps way down by using flux-less solder to bind the IHS to the die, like they did on SB. The thing is, this time they didn't and they just put some thermal paste between the die and the IHS... and this is waaaaaaayyyyy worst at transferring heat so that it can be dispersed by the cooler on top.

On IB right now you can feel the coolers are way cooler because heat is not even getting there.

I hope they fix this on the next stepping.

[coldfiredragon]

Go for the Sandy Bridge-E they are the best performers hands down and have the PCIe lanes to do SLI /CrossFire right.

[m4xc4v413r4]

Go for the Sandy Bridge-E they are the best performers hands down and have the PCIe lanes to do SLI /CrossFire right.

lol, yeah... they also cost 2 or 3 times what an IB cost.... and only get you what? 10% more performance?

[Deleted]

The SB is the new q6600 so grab it while u can and run like ur lunch depended on it...

*spears...

[DeltrusDisc]

Go for the Sandy Bridge-E they are the best performers hands down and have the PCIe lanes to do SLI /CrossFire right.

Frankly "do SLI/Xfire right" is in fact false. They have found next to 0 graphics cards actually need full 16x PCI-E 2.1 lanes, they use less than 8x data, so no, you don't need SB-E and it's way too expensive for JUST gamers, however if you have money to spend and crap, then, okay, sure, go ahead, I guess.

[vesseblah]

Frankly "do SLI/Xfire right" is in fact false. They have found next to 0 graphics cards actually need full 16x PCI-E 2.1 lanes, they use less than 8x data, so no, you don't need SB-E and it's way too expensive for JUST gamers, however if you have money to spend and crap, then, okay, sure, go ahead, I guess.

Need it for silliness like tri/quad SLI since SB boards can't do it. But nothing interesting for normal people.